Archaeology News

Neolithic People in Arabia Used Same Fluting Technology as Ancient Native Americans

Various types of fluted points and preforms from Manayzah, Yemen: (1) double-fluted preform on a plano-convex elongated bifacial piece; (2) broken fluted preform on a bifacial elongated piece with symmetrical section; (3) base-fluted projectile point; (4 and 5) tip-fluted projectile points. Image credit: Crassard et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236314.
Aug 11, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has excavated and examined 8,000-year-old projectile points (spear- and arrowheads) at two sites in Yemen and Oman. They’ve found that ancient Arabians independently invented a process to create distinctive projectile points — called fluting — that was first used by Native Americans about 5,000 years earlier. Various types of fluted points and preforms from Manayzah, Yemen: (1) double-fluted preform...

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A camelid figurine made of Spondylus shell and a rolled gold sheet found in a stone offering box from Lake Titicaca. Image credit: T. Seguin, Université libre de Bruxelles.

Archaeologists Find Shell Llama and Gold Foil in Inca Offering Box from Lake Titicaca

Aug 5, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists from the Pennsylvania State University and the Université libre de Bruxelles have found a stone offering box near a reef close to the north-eastern...

Lagoon on Teti’aroa. Image credit: Guillaume Molle.

Tiny Polynesian Atoll was Holiday Getaway for Tahitian Royalty

Aug 4, 2020 by News Staff

A team of archaeologists has uncovered two ancient archery platforms and a huge open-air altar on the Polynesian atoll of Teti’aroa, once owned by Hollywood...

Stonehenge. Image credit: Regina Wolfs.

Archaeologists Pinpoint Source of Stonehenge’s Sarsen Megaliths

Jul 31, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the UK and South Africa has discovered that most of the hulking sandstone boulders — called sarsens — that make...

Mühlemann et al show that the Vikings also suffered from smallpox. Image credit: Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall.

Diverse Strains of Smallpox Virus Were Widespread in Viking Age, New Study Shows

Jul 25, 2020 by News Staff

Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, is one of the most devastating human diseases. Smallpox killed millions of people but drove Edward Jenner’s invention...

Team members entering Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico. Image credit: Devlin A. Gandy.

Archaeologists Find 30,000-Year-Old Stone Tools in Mexican Cave

Jul 22, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists have uncovered 1,900 stone artifacts in Chiquihuite Cave, a high-altitude site in the Astillero Mountains in northern Mexico. DNA analysis...

A man described as ‘Abisha the Hyksos,’ leading a group of Aamu, a painting from the tomb of Khnumhotep II (circa 1900 BCE). Image credit: Macquarie University.

Rulers of Ancient Egypt’s Enigmatic Hyksos Dynasty Were Immigrants, Not Invaders

Jul 16, 2020 by News Staff

New research led by Bournemouth University archaeologists supports the theory that the Hyksos, the rulers of the 15th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, were not...

1.4-Million-Year-Old Handaxe Unearthed in Ethiopia

Jul 14, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

Paleoanthropologists working at the Konso research area in Ethiopia have found a 1.4-million-year-old large bone fragment shaped into handaxe-like form. The...

The 1,900-year-old leather toy mouse from the Roman fort of Vindolanda. Image credit: Vindolanda Trust.

Archaeologists Find 1,900-Year-Old Leather Toy Mouse

Jul 7, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found a toy mouse at the site of Vindolanda, an ancient Roman military fort and settlement on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, northern...

Genghis Khan’s enthronement in 1206 CE from the History of the World by Rashid al-Din.

Archaeologists Confirm Site of Genghis Khan’s Winter Base Camp

Jul 6, 2020 by News Staff

Avraga, a Mongol Empire site located in an open steppe environment along the Avraga River in east-central Mongolia, was the winter base camp (ordū) of...

The Paleolithic settlement at Abu Hureyra in what is now Syria may have been destroyed 12,800 years ago because of a comet. Image credit: Jennifer Rice, Comet Research Group.

Cometary Debris May Have Destroyed Paleolithic Settlement 12,800 Years Ago

Jul 2, 2020 by News Staff

Fragments of an exploding short-period comet may have caused destruction of the Paleolithic settlement at Abu Hureyra in northern Syria about 12,800 years...

The pre-contact pipe analyzed by Brownstein et alю Image credit: Brownstein et al, doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2020.00133.

Archaeologists Find Traces of Non-Tobacco Plant in Pre-Columbian Native American Pipe

Jul 1, 2020 by News Staff

The 1,430-year-old basalt pipe from central Washington State, the United States, not only contained nicotine, but also had strong evidence for the smoking...

The ancient Maya city of Tikal in northern Guatemala. Image credit: Gerd Eichmann / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Archaeologists Find Toxic Chemicals in Water Reservoirs of Ancient Maya City of Tikal

Jun 30, 2020 by News Staff

New research reveals that two of the largest reservoirs at Tikal, an ancient Maya city in what is now northern Guatemala, were contaminated with high levels...

3D reconstructions of the three boat types found at Ostia: a fishing boat (left), a small sailboat (center) and a harbor lighter (right). Image credit: D. Peloso, Ipso Facto / P. Poveda, Centre Camille Jullian, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université.

Three Ancient Roman Boats Reconstructed in 3D

Jun 24, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of researchers from Italy and France has made realistic 3D reconstructions of three wooden boats from the ancient Roman port of Ostia. 3D reconstructions...

The 2-km-wide ring of shafts around the great henge at Durrington Walls and the famous site at Woodhenge. Image credit: Gaffney et al, doi: 10.11141/ia.55.4.

Archaeologists Find Giant Ring of Shafts near Stonehenge

Jun 22, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists have discovered a 4,500-year-old ring of large ‘shafts’ around the great henge at Durrington Walls and the famous site at Woodhenge,...

View of the wall paintings on the western wall of a house in Chajul, Guatemala. The panel features a possible dwarf with a long stick (individual 1) striding behind the backs of two musicians wearing Spanish costumes (individuals 2 and 3), and approached by a man in Indian-Spanish attire (individual 4). The first musician (individual 2) is shown playing a short wind instrument, probably a flute (xhuli aj) or a chirimía -- instruments still popular in traditional music of the Ixil Maya. The chirimía is a form of a double-reed woodwind instrument (resembling an oboe), which was introduced by the Spaniards. The second musician plays a large drum, beating it with sticks with rounded heads. The same set of instruments (large drum and flute/chirimía) is used today to accompany different feasts and ritual ceremonies. Individuals 1-3 wear typical European costume, comprising a short mantle worn over one shoulder; a kaftan with puffed sleeves and ruff; a broad belt with its loose end dangling to the front, long slim trousers (or perhaps short trousers and stockings); and heeled shoes with long, pointed toes. The individuals wear hats with broad brims adorned with a feather or brush made from animal hair. The only legible fragment of inscription, located above the drummer's head, reads ‘…CADORES’, which probably refers to the word ‘tocadores’, or ‘musicians.’ A figure, possibly a dancer (individual 4), is shown striding towards the musicians, holding a green object resembling a bottle in his extended hand. His costume comprises both European and Indian elements. Image credit: R. Słaboński.

Spectacular Maya Wall Paintings Discovered in Guatemala

Jun 22, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

An unparalleled set of Maya wall paintings, most probably from the 17th to 18th centuries CE, discovered in a local house in the Guatemalan city of San...

A Nenets man traveling on a sled pulled by three reindeer, Tambei region of the Yamal peninsula, June 2018. In his left hand he holds the khorei (a wood pole) and in his right the nenzamindya’sa (head rope), both of which are used to communicate with the reindeer during sledding. Image credit: Losey et al, doi: 10.1007/s10816-020-09455-w.

Earliest Evidence of Reindeer Domestication Found in Arctic Siberia

Jun 17, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of archeologists has unearthed numerous L-shaped barbed antler objects at three early sites — Ust’-Polui, Tiutei-Sale I,...

Bone projectile points (A to H) and scrapers (I to K) from Fa-Hien Lena. Image credit: Langley et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba3831.

48,000-Year-Old Arrowheads Unearthed in Sri Lanka

Jun 15, 2020 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found over a hundred bone arrow points at the Pleistocene cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in Sri Lanka. The artifacts were used to hunt tree-dwelling...

Lingjing bird carving: (A) photographs of the six aspects of the carvings; (B) 3D renderings of the carving obtained by CT scan. Scale bars - 2 mm. Image credit: Li et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233370.

Archaeologists Find 13,500-Year-Old Bird Figurine in China

Jun 11, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of archaeologists has uncovered a diminutive carving, depicting a standing bird, at the Paleolithic site of Lingjing in Henan, China....

Falerii Novi: GPR time-slice at an estimated depth of 0.8-0.85 m: (1) forum tabernae (shop units); (2) a temple; (3) a theater; (4) a macellum; (5) a bath complex; (6) a porticus; (8) streets. Image credit: L. Verdonck / Google Earth.

Archaeologists Use Ground-Penetrating Radar to Map Ancient Roman City of Falerii Novi

Jun 9, 2020 by News Staff

The first high-resolution ground-penetrating radar survey of a complete ancient Roman town — Falerii Novi, in Lazio, Italy — has revealed previously...

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